List of Tables
List of Figures
- 1 Map of Soysambu with sample sizes from each locations
- 2 Gender of respondents
- 3 Map of principal livelihood activities in surveyed households
- 4 Was the household head born in this community?
- 5 Map showing the distribution of wealth quintiles
- 6 Overall positive impacts across all communities
- 7 Positive impacts broken down into separate locations
- 8 How secure do you feel from the risk of theft of your property?
- 9 Overall negative impacts across all communities
- 10 Negative impacts broken down into separate locations
- 11 Responses when asked: How is your life at the moment?
- 12 How has the general wellbeing of your household changed over the last 5 years?
- 13 The impact of Soysambu Conservancy on the well-being of their household
- 14 How has the contribution of Soysambu to your households well-being changed over the past 5 years?
- 15 Map of survey locations
- 16 Agree/Disagree on statements about transparency and access to information
- 17 Agree/Disagree on statements about mitigation of negative impacts
- 18 Agree/Disagree on statements about equitable benefit-sharing processes
- 19 Agree/Disagree on statements about rights
- 20 Map of 2nd most important livelihood in surveyed households
- 21 Map of second most important household livelihood
- 22 Livestock as tropical livestock units, per household
- 23 Did the household cultivate crops in the last year
- 24 No. of acres cultivated by the household in their location, in the last year
- 25 Livestock damaged by wildlife in the last year
- 26 Cultivated crops damaged by wildlife in the last year
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this report reflect those of the authors. Whilst every care has been taken in the writing of this report, the authors accept no responsibility for any resultant errors herein, any damages or loss whatsoever caused or suffered by any individual or organisation.
Rights
The information in this report is copyrighted, therefore, copying or transmitting any part of this report without permission from the authors may be a violation. However, we encourage dissemination and use of this report with appropriate citation and acknowledgement.
Suggested citation
Please cite this report as such :
Brehony, P., Tyrrell, P., Muiyuro, R., Kang’ethe, E. 2024. Social Assessment of Protected Area for Soysambu Conservancy. Sustain East Africa, Nairobi, Kenya.
Acknowledgements
This Social Assessment of Protected Areas for Soysambu Conservancy is the result of a collaborative effort between Sustain East Africa, Soysambu Conservancy, and representatives from communities bordering the Conservancy. Thank you to the all those who helped to pull this together.
Particular thanks go to: Helen Jerotich, Community Education Officer (Soysambu Conservancy); Chief Joseph Mwangi and Assistant Chief Felicah Mugi of Mbaruk location; Chief Parit Sururu and Assistant Chief Henry Balozi of Kongasis, Oljorai location; and Chief Simon Mathare and Assistant Chief Benson Mungai of Kiptangwani location.
We would also like to acknowledgement the MCA of Eburru Mbaruk Ward, Michael Gathanwa, and his ward administration for their insights and input in highlighting areas where Soysambu Conservancy can continue to support neighbouring communities.
We also thank the Nyumba Kumi village elders from the three locations for their input, as well as the dedicated enumerators involved in carrying out the household surveys: Benedicta Wanjiru, Emmanuel Kooli, and Paul Waweru.
Summary
Context
The Social Assessment for Protected and Conserved Areas (SAPA) is a standardised, low-cost and relatively simple approach to assessing social impacts of protected or conserved areas. SAPA can help identify positive and negative social impacts of protected or conserved areas, understand the underlying causes of problems related to governance and identify actions that could improve the situation. The methodology can also be used to establish a baseline for social impacts and their overall contribution to human wellbeing against which changes can be tracked over time. It is a multi-stakeholder assessment methodology for use by site-level stakeholders.
Key Findings
Overall contribution to wellbeing
The survey results indicated that the majority of respondents perceived Soysambu’s overall contribution to well-being as neutral, taking into account both positive and negative impacts. There were exceptions, particularly in Oljorai and Mbaruk locations, where a few respondents felt that Soysambu had increased their well-being.
On the other hand, approximately
Governance
SAPA encompasses four key principles of effective governance: participation in decision-making, transparency and accessibility to information, mitigation of negative impacts, and equitable benefit-sharing process.
Participation
In Mbaruk and Oljorai locations, the majority of people disagree that there is participation in Soysambu’s decision-making that impacts the community. However, in Soysambu itself, a large percentage of people feel that there is some level of participation, particularly in knowing their community representative for meetings with Soysambu and communicating with them. In Kiptangwani, there is a mix in opinions with most people feeling that there is no participation, some agreeing that there is participation, and quite a number do not know whether there is any participation.
Transparency and access to information
Rights
Benefit Sharing Process
Mitigation of Negative Impacts
Recommendations going forward
Given that there are significant differences between locations, we recommend xyz
Introduction
Soysambu Conservancy
Soysambu Conservancy is located within the Rift Valley System. It covers 48,000 acres, encompassing the northern and western shores of Lake Elmenteita. Soysambu Conservancy is renowned for its remarkable biodiversity, including a population of 170 endangered Nubian Giraffes and over 450 bird species, notably hosting 28% of the world’s Lesser Flamingo population. Indeed Lake Elmentaita is one of Kenya’s Key Biodiversity Areas and RAMSAR sites (a wetland that is of international importance under the Ramsar Convention). Its rich wildlife habitat is home to buffalo, leopard, hippo, hyena, jackal, eland, zebra, impala, Thompson’s and Grant’s Gazelle, waterbuck, reedbuck, klipspringer, warthog, steinbok, colobus monkey, vervet monkey, and baboons.
Soysambu Conservancy was established as a Not-for-Profit Company in 2007 and works to conserve the Soysambu Estate as a traditional wildlife area, which supports the integrity of the greater Rift Valley ecosystem, while promoting sustainable coexistence of wildlife with livestock and at the same time being relevant to and part of modern-day Kenya.
Soysambu Conservancy wanted to understand more about the social impact of the conservancy on communities living within and surround the conservancy. Furthermore, they wanted to use the opportunity of assessing the social impacts of the Conservancy to listen to what communities within and surrounding the conservancy had to say about the positive and negative impacts of the Conservancy. This could also serve as an opportunity to establish a baseline for Soysambu Conservancy’s contribution to the well-being of communities, over time.
SAPA is a multi-stakeholder assessment methodology for use by site-level stakeholders. The methodology is based on a standardised process that can be replicated across protected or conserved areas while remaining flexible enough for tailoring to local needs and contexts.
SAPA uses a set of standard assessment questions directly related to social impacts and governance quality. It also includes a process of developing site-specific questions that respond to specific needs of actors.
SAPA can help identify positive and negative social impacts of protected or conserved areas, understand the underlying causes of problems related to governance and identify actions that could improve the situation. The inclusion of a governance and equity assessment in the second edition of SAPA strengthens the results and action planning processes. Governance is distinct from management and pays attention to who defines objectives and how. It also looks at allocation of responsibility and accountability for delivering on these objectives.
The methodology can also be used to establish a baseline for social impacts and their overall contribution to human wellbeing against which changes can be tracked over time. Therefore, the SAPA approach meets the requirements of Soysambu Conservancy as they seek to understand social impacts over time, and to listen to feed back from communities living within and surrounding the conservancy.
Findings
Characteristics of the respondents
Household head’s gender, age, and average number of children
Figure 2: Gender of respondents
Location | Mean no. of children | Mean age of household head |
|---|---|---|
Kiptangwanyi | 2.5 | 46.8 |
Mbaruk | 1.8 | 54.1 |
OlJorai | 3.6 | 47.0 |
Soysambu | 3.2 | 45.3 |
Principal livelihoods of the households
Residents surrounding Soysambu Conservancy engage in various economic activities, each with distinct needs. To the south, adjacent to Samburu, are pastoralist communities. Along the Pipeline-Elementaita road, there exists a satellite urban settlement area where minimal agriculture is practiced. The northern region comprises a mix of satellite urban communities and pastoralists, while the area along the Nakuru road towards Gilgil is predominantly occupied by smallholder farmers. Following this, the results are presented disaggregated by location.
Figure 3: Map of principal livelihood activities in surveyed households
How long household heads have been in the area
Figure 4: Was the household head born in this community?
Wealth of households
Based on a number of variables that were recorded during the survey, a wealth index was constructed. This included whether the household owned assets such as a car, motorbike, television, radio, generator, smart phone, water tank, pit latrine, and whether they used mpesa, the construction material of their house, how often they skipped meals, how many livestock they had, and how large an area they cultivated. Based on a principal component analysis, households were categorised into 5 quintiles, and a map of these is shown below, followed by two key variables in understanding household level wealth, namely how often the household were forced to skip a meal, and the construction material of the walls of their house.
Figure 5: Map showing the distribution of wealth quintiles
Social Assessment of Protected Areas (SAPA) approach
The Social Assessment for Protected and Conserved Areas (SAPA), launched in 2014, responded to a need for a standardised, low-cost and relatively simple approach to assessing social impacts of protected or conserved areas (Franks, Small, and Booker 2018).